We should look for some unattended food, I bet we can steal some bread crumbs or whatever the equivalent of bagels are here.
If possible, try finding a mirrored surface to see how our appearance has changed.
Best way to check yourself out is with the almighty puddle. Finding one doesn't take too long, as it looks like it rained last night. A quick flight down to a flat rooftop, and..
..You're certainly bigger, but it's a relative thing. You were a small bird. Now you're still a small bird. And you look exactly the same, as far as you can tell, same feathers, same wings, same yellow and black, there's just a bit more of you. You're about rat-sized, really.
..more of you to feed, as your stomach rumbles again.
You take to the air, scoping out for food. There must be food somewhere, right? You can smell it sometimes on people. Or from vents or such. Food! There are insects, but not as many as you thought.
Indoors. The food must be indoors. Outside is just a barren tangle of buildings with very few plants and not a lot of life. And so, so many flying vehicles. Even down this far there are still many in the air, although not the truly enormous number further up. You need to dodge carefully and stick close to the buildings for safety.
Eventually, you find a way inside in one of the good-smelling areas, dodging through another parking entrance.
There's a plaza, with all kinds of people going back and forth packing a tight, narrow area with a lot of lights, music, and so, so much talking. There are shopfronts everywhere, selling many kinds of items, around a large three story atrium. On top is the good smells, a bunch of food sellers hawking all kinds of meat and vegetables and grain. Although the most popular is the simplest, a bare storefront with a huge line of individuals, being rapidly processed as everyone steps up to the front, waves a palm over a scanner, followed by them getting a small bag of food.
The other, fancier ones have patrons, but the process looks much more complicated, with people arguing over purchases and waiting for them. The plain stand you just go up there and get food.
Anyway, you're looking to steal, so you perch up high and wait for an appropriate moment. A couple of people take out and examine their food, strange brownish-reddish blocks. They're ration cubes, and are basically preserved cubes of grains and fruit, mixed with some additives for proteins and fat. Not tasty, but you can do things to make them more palatable.
But you're too hungry to care. You pick someone being a bit sloppy with their bag, fly down, and grab a good sized block in your beak, and then fly away, before the guards can come for you. Outside, you chow it down hurredly.
The next few hours are a painful experience in extreme thirst and bloating. The cube was apparently very compressed, and very dehydrated. You drink, roll over in pain for a while, and then drink some more. Not fun. Next time, no ration cubes.
Still, by afternoon you've digested it and your body is obeying you again. And you're free, haven't seen hardly anything, and have a whole world to explore.
What do you want to do before bedtime again?
Author
Topic: Shadows over Onyx (Read 1227 times)